The Correspondent

In the many overlapping relationships throughout the novel, grief is a common denominator as each character wrestles with the issues that afflict their family. Through Sybil, however, Evans espouses that grief—even when a person attempts to manage it—cannot easily be contained. Intentionally or not, untreated grief often engenders its own perpetuating cycles across any kind of relationship as it twists moral character.

Evans demonstrates this perpetuation specifically through the developing relationship between Sybil and Dezi. Though Sybil may not have held the gavel that brought upon Enzo’s incarceration, she and Dezi nevertheless believe she holds much of the blame. Evans emphasizes that Sybil’s fault lies at the heart of her inaction, as Sybil explains in this passage: “I did not plead on her [Dezi’s mother’s] behalf, as I should have, as I, a mother, should have. I knew I had his [Guy’s] ear, and I did not speak up for your [Dezi’s] mother” (221). More than a matter of unextended sympathy towards another mother, however, the author implies that Sybil’s grief distorted her very sense of self. By all accounts, Sybil is depicted as a character who fell in love with the law not only for its structure but also for its proposed moral code and ideas of justice.